Concerns about independent healthcare services
Find out how to complain to an independent healthcare provider and what we can do to help.
How we can help
We encourage you to tell the independent healthcare provider about your concerns so they can put things right.
We understand that some people are worried about sharing their concerns and complaints with providers.
In these cases you can contact us
What we will do
- Although we cannot look into your individual complaint and resolve the issues for you we would like you to tell us about your experience.
- We will look at the information and decide how to respond.
- We are responsible for making sure that providers meet the regulations and standards that apply to them.
- If the provider is not meeting these regulations and standards, we will take further action
- We may ask the provider to investigate, or we may look into it ourselves
What happens next?
We will acknowledge your concern in writing within seven working days of receiving it and we will explain what will happen next.
We will assess the information you have sent us and decide whether the healthcare service may have committed an offence. We will then contact you again (usually within 20 working days).
We may also do any of the following:
- Decide we are not the best organisation to deal with your concern. For example, if your concern is about how a healthcare professional (such as a doctor or a nurse) has behaved, we will usually ask you to contact the relevant professional body to tell them about your concern.
- Recommend that you contact the service again to sort out the issue.
- Decide that the organisation has broken one of the regulations. We will then take suitable action and let you know that we have done so.
- Decide that the service has not broken the regulations.
